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B-17 Flying Fortress
FLACK WAGON, B-17G, #42-9721, is the aircraft in the upper right corner of this picture on the crews 6th Mission against Ludwigshafen, Germany.
Delivered Denver 7/3/44; Hunter 16/4/44; Grenier 5/5/44; Assigned 571BS/390BG [FC-M] Framlingham 8/5/44; Missing in Action Mainz 8/9/44 with Jim Handley, Navigator: Frank Capek, Bombardier: Glenn Lee, Radio Operator: Jim Stubbs, Ball turret gunner: Albt Spacil, Waist gunner: Norman Keller,Tail gunner: breaking aircraft in twoTony Dymek (7 Killed in Action); Co-pilot: Paul Hadley, Flight engineer/top turret gunner: Arthur Brown (2 Prisoner of War); flak, then exploded and crashed Neuholf N of Wiesbaden, Ger. Missing Air Crew Report 8602. CHAFF WAGON.
Group
The 390th Bomb Group flew B-17 Flying Fortresses from Framlingham, Suffolk, between July 1943 and the end of the war in Europe. The Group was engaged in strategic missions until the invasion of Europe when its role became more of a tactical one. This...
Squadron
Military | Technical Sergeant | Top Turret Gunner | 390th Bomb Group
Prisoner of War (POW) Crashed at Idstein on 9/8/44 in B-17 Chaff Wagon 42-97821.
POW
Military | Second Lieutenant | Navigator | 390th Bomb Group
Crashed at Idstein in B-17 'Chaff Wagon' #42-97821, Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Second Lieutenant | Pilot | 390th Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA)
Military | Staff Sergeant | Tail Gunner | 390th Bomb Group
Crashed at Idstein in B-17 'Chaff Wagon' #42-97821, Killed in Action (KIA).
Military | Second Lieutenant | Co-Pilot | 390th Bomb Group
Prisoner of War (POW) Crashed at Idstein on 9/8/44 in B-17 Chaff Wagon 42-97821.
Military | First Lieutenant | Pilot | 390th Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA) Crashed at Idstein in B-17 Chaff Wagon #4297821
Military | Sergeant | Tail gunner/Waist gunner/Bombardier-Togglier | 390th Bomb Group
Taisto Huhtala's father Henry was born on 7 December 1890 in Ylistaro, Vaasan Lääni (Vaasa Province), Finland. Henry emigrated to the United States and married US-born Aili Johnson. Their son Taisto Huhtala flew as a Tail Gunner, Waist Gunner and then...
Military | Staff Sergeant | Right Waist Gunner, Waist Gunner | 390th Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA) Crashed at Idstein in B-17 "Chaff Wagon" 42-97821.
Military | Second Lieutenant | Bombardier | 390th Bomb Group
Killed in Action (KIA) Crashed at Idstein in B-17 Chaff Wagon 42-97821.
Military | Waist Gunner | 390th Bomb Group
Crew Number 93
...
Military site : airfield
Built for the Eighth Air Force from 1942 to 43, Framlingham was home first to the 95th Bomb Group, before that unit moved to RAF Alconbury. From 1943 to 1945, it was operated by the 390th Bomb Group. The airfield was handed back to the RAF in 1945, and...
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Failed to Return (FTR) | Germany | 8 September 1944 |
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 26 July 2020 20:39:16 | jefflhead | Changes to markings |
| Sources | ||
Details from mission on Sep 11, 1944 and other documentation and letters from the ball turret gunner, Staff Sergeant Albert Alvin Spacil who dies on Sep 11, 1944 in the aircraft on that, their second to last mission. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 26 July 2020 20:33:43 | jefflhead | Changes to nicknames |
| Sources | ||
Details from mission on Sep 11, 1944 and other documentation and letters from the ball turret gunner, Staff Sergeant Albert Alvin Spacil who dies on Sep 11, 1944 in the aircraft on that, their second to last mission. |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 26 July 2020 19:11:32 | jefflhead | Changes to nicknames |
| Sources | ||
Museum and USAAF Records, as well as Uncle Albert's records |
||
| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:41:16 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Dave Osborne, B-17 Fortress Master Log / MACR 8602 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database |
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